“I have regretted more than I can tell you my lack of systematic education. My father was hardly more than well-to-do and I went into business at eighteen. But I have been a diligent reader; you might say that I have always been a student. It’s possible that I should have fared poorly in college; my disposition was always, even when a boy, to brush away details and seek the broader view. I think I owe my success in life to that—the ability to climb upon the hills and see the lights afar off.”
He stirred his coffee with the care we give in our ease to unimportant things. He was satisfied with himself and the world; when he spoke she felt as though she were eavesdropping upon a reverie.
“It is a great joy to have you here by my side—the house has brightened since you came. If only Wayne would take the place to which he was born in the community I should not have a care!”
“But Wayne is doing well; I thought you said yourself that he was attending very regularly at the office, that he had really begun to take an interest in business.”
“He’s a boy of moods, poor Wayne! Just now he’s going to the office every day. His cleverness is amazing when he applies himself; but let a new kind of motor catch his eye and off he goes! He’s struck a new humour lately—devoting himself to the study of a lot of most complicated legal matters—contracts and the like. Such things are best left to the lawyers. But he has kept straight for some time and that’s something. It’s a good deal, and I’m grateful for it. I have always let him do as he pleased at the office in the hope that he would some day find something that interested him.”
“He’s very bright—and likable,” said Mrs. Craighill. “Fanny says he’s a genius.”
“Fanny can see no wrong in her brother, and I’m glad of it; but she has kept me ignorant of many of his worst escapades and I have simply never been able to get near him. We are very unlike.”
“Isn’t that strange! I’ve been thinking that in so many ways you and he are much alike.”
“Physically, yes; he has my build. I rather fancy that I’m still as erect as he is!”
He smiled and waited for her acquiescence, but she had been thinking intently and did not at once meet his eyes.